The urge to urge

Urged once again. Due to the urgency, I guess.

Well, I’m sure this urge will finally do the trick.

German chancellor urges Chinese industry bosses to play fair in EU market – Olaf Scholz says European cars should have equal access to Chinese customers.

“The only thing that always needs to be clear is that the competition is fair,” he said during a discussion with students at Tongji University in Shanghai. “That means there can be no dumping, no overproduction and that intellectual property rights are not violated,” he said.

German of the day: Unwahrscheinlich

That means unlikely. As in “a recovery of German industry to the level before the war in Ukraine is unlikely.”

Go Green, go… lean.

Germany set to permanently pay for reliance on Russian gas—as power chief says ‘significant structural demand destruction’ means it will never fully recover from energy crisis.

German industry got rich, thanks partly to its close energy trading relationship with political and economic rival Russia. The past few years have shown just how misguided that relationship was, as Russia invaded Ukraine and cut off Germany’s cheap, vital gas supply.

Now, one of Germany’s leading renewable-power bosses has suggested it’s a mistake the country could rue forever, as the fallout from the energy crisis is set to permanently damage its industry.

“Art is what you can get away with”

And this guy didn’t get away with it.

But nice try anyway.

German gallery fires employee for hanging own art in exhibition – A modern art gallery in Germany has fired an employee after discovering the budding artist had hung his own work in an exhibition.

The 51-year-old man had drilled two holes in a wall to mount his painting in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne.

But why would you leave Helsinki in the first place?

To come to Berlin, I mean.

Finns are the happiest people on Earth, I’m told. Germans, well, aren’t. And Berliners erst recht nicht (certainly not).

Traveling from Berlin to Helsinki — without using a plane. Flying is a major CO2 emitter when traveling. But how feasible are alternative modes of transportation?

Half of Germans support reintroducing military service

For the other half.

And for some odd reason the younger Germans are much less enthusiastic about the idea than older Germans.

Around half of German citizens are in favour of reintroducing compulsory military service, according to a survey by opinion research institute Forsa.

In the poll commissioned by German news magazine Stern, 52% of respondents were in favour of compulsory military service, the magazine said on Tuesday.

Some 43% were against it and 5% expressed no opinion. According to the data, the strongest supporters of compulsory military service were found in the over-60 age group, with 59% in favour. In contrast, 59% of 18 to 29-year-olds were against compulsory military service.

Germans say allies ‘not angry or upset’

About the German allies who are angry and upset with Germany.

Russia-Ukraine war live: Drones cut power to Crimea as Germany says allies ‘not angry or upset’ over leaks – Germany says leaked intercepted call explained as ‘individual mistake’ to Washington and London.

… Meanwhile, the German defence minister has said the country’s allies are “not angry or upset” after details of high-level military discussions were leaked to Russian media.

Boris Pistorius described the incident, which included German military officers saying British forces were “on the ground” in Ukraine helping launch missiles at Russia, as an “individual mistake”.

“They are not angry or upset with Germany because they know that we have rules and that things like this can happen,” the German defence minister said.

German of the day: Brandanschlag

That means aerson attack.

The Tree People did it (they’re kind of like the Sand People in Star Wars, only with trees)!

Tesla without electricity is like a… Well, this is what it’s like:

Tesla factory near Berlin evacuated! No power for hours after arson attack. Production at a standstill ++ Bomb searchers move in…

Peaceful protest turns into naked violence! Eco-criminals paralyzed Tesla’s car factory in Grünheide (12,500 employees) with an arson attack on Tuesday morning. The entire factory, the town of Erkner and parts of Berlin are without electricity. Bomb searchers are now moving in. The car factory has been evacuated!

Those were the days…

When we could smirk our smirk with impunity.

But then the real world happened. Again.

Germany Should Have Listened to Trump – He was right about Berlin’s self-defense and risky energy dependence on Russia.

The lower house of Germany’s Parliament voted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis last week. It was a timely move. Germany’s leadership class is going to need all the mellow it can find in a world that isn’t going Germany’s way.

Political? The Berlin Film Festival?

That’s all we’ve ever been. It’s never been about film.

But we’re not just Crappy-Movies-R-Us anymore. Now we’re openly anti-Israeli. Wait. We’ve always been openly anti-Israel. But now we’re openly openly anti-Israeli.

Germany launches probe over Berlin film festival anti-Israel row – German officials will investigate how Berlin film festival winners were able to make “one-sided” comments condemning Israel’s war in Gaza at the event’s finale, a government spokeswoman says.

At Saturday’s awards ceremony, several winners were accused of making biased remarks on stage in relation to Israel’s war against Hamas, which began after the October 7 assault by the terror group that killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw 253 taken hostage.

US filmmaker Ben Russell, wearing a Palestinian scarf, accused Israel of committing “genocide.”

It just keeps getting wackier…

Europe’s largest emitter of CO2 wants to start burying it in the ocean.

Do you have any idea how much dirt that would take?

OK, they want to bury it in sub-seabed storage. But still.

Germany to allow carbon capture, underwater storage – German Economy Minister Robert Habeck says Berlin will need to allow sub-seabed storage of CO2 produced in certain industries in order to reach its goal to be carbon neutral by 2045.